IGB International School Newsletter, Issue 14, Week 3, October 2014

IGB International School’s Weekly Newsletter - Issue 14, Week 3, October 2014

The Kindergarten Friends have displayed some work and information about Deepavali. The display has samples of their work, photographs of them doing the work and also statements about what skills they were learning while completing the tasks. This display tells a ‘learning story’.

Inside this week’s Newsletter Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles, Head of School

News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod, Elementary School Principal

News from Secondary School Mr. Lennox Meldrum, Secondary School Principal

Updates from Student Services Mr. Peter Fowles, Head of Student Services

Updates from Academic and Support Services

Upcoming Events October 18th - 26th October 2014 School Holidays Wednesday, 22nd October 2014 Public Holiday - Deepavali Wednesday, 29th October 2014 Parent Teacher Conference, 2.00pm - 7.00pm November Monday, 17th November 2014 Staff Professional Development Day (no school for students)

Mr. Peter Syme, Director of Academic and Support Services

Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

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Message from Head of School Mrs. Anne Fowles Head of School Dear IGBIS Parents and Community Members, Our whole school community came together again for the colourful Deepavali Assembly on Wednesday afternoon. It was a wonderful learning experience for our students, parents and teachers to find out more about the festival and its significance.

We appreciated the preparations made by staff and students, the presentations, performances, parade, decorations, clothing, lighting and gifts of food. Thank you to everyone involved.

Secondary school students’ midsemester reports are now available on Managebac. It is apparent that students are already making very good progress and areas of improvement are also being highlighted for their attention. I appreciate the work of our teachers in preparing such detailed reports commenting on students individually. This will assist students to do even better in the next half of the semester.

We hope that parents and students are finding the Managebac platform to be a useful means of communication.

Parent Teacher Conferences about student progress will take place on the afternoon and evening of October 29th. Secondary school students should attend the conferences with their parents, but the Elementary conferences are for parents only.

Have a restful break over the coming week of holiday and Happy Deepavali!

News from Elementary School Mrs. Claire McLeod Elementary School Principal Last Wednesday afternoon’s Deepavali Assembly was colourful, informative and enjoyable. So many of our Elementary students and staff found some special clothing in their wardrobe or borrowed an item from friends and colleagues.

Thank you to parents for supporting this celebration and for those who could manage attending this afternoon. I would also like to thank our Elementary School student presenters and school wide staff who contributed to this lovely assembly.

Over the last few days I have noticed some very tired students, particularly those in our Early Years. Whilst some tiredness may be attributed to late nights, I also feel that many are exhausted from their first nine weeks at IGBIS. The upcoming holidays are timely for our students and definitely for our staff who have put in hours

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of work after school, at night and on weekends to help set up our programs and classrooms for the first time.

Clean Hands Our school nurse has just started to give lessons on hand washing and how clean hands can help keep you healthy.

Posters to remind students have been displayed in classrooms and bathrooms and parents are asked to support this by reminding their children to wash their hands at home.

Holidays School will finish this Friday for a week’s holiday and resume on Monday, 25th October.

Professional Development Day On Monday, 17th November students will not be required to attend, as teachers will be involved in professional development.

I hope you enjoy the holidays!

Until next time.

Impacting Lives

Grade 3 - 5 Physical Education In Grade 3 - 5 Physical Education this first part of the year has been focussed on Low Organizational Games. We have used a variety of equipment to explore our space and interact with one another in cooperative and competitive ways, always reinforcing the social expectations and pointing out the challenges that come in working with others. Weekly swimming lessons have centred around floating, gliding and moving on the front through water in different ways, setting a strong foundation in the freestyle stroke. Students have also played many water games to support each skill.

Ms Jasmine Brawn, Physical Education Teacher

Early Years - Grade 2 Physical Education This week has seen the Grade 1’s and 2’s start their new PE units. The Grade 1’s are thinking and working through different learning styles in the class. In PE we are learning about learning styles too. We are inquiring into dance and how best we learn. We will be creating dances and teaching dances to others. Watch this space for how we are going to do this!

In Grade 2 we have started our health related fitness unit. We are inquiring into what our current fitness levels are and how and why we need to improve them.

In KG we are looking at games. These may be played as an individual and these may be played as a team, how we organise ourselves is dependent on the need. We have been working on developing our ball skills to help us when we play in games.

In Early Years we are working on fundamental movement skills, jumping, hopping, skipping, running forwards, backwards and sideways. Even how to stop, listen and follow instructions.

Using a variety of equipment is great fun.

Simon Millward, Physical Education Teacher & Elementary Coordinator

Elementary Library Our school has two libraries, one for Secondary School on Level 6 and one for Elementary School on Level 5. The Elementary Library has 2,711 titles; this includes Picture Books, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Professional and Reference. Although you may think this to be a large number of books, we are about to place a second order to supplement what we already have. This second order will reflect the requests from students and teachers.

In the Elementary school, a highlight of the school week is the Library lesson, which is something our students really look forward to. Mrs. Claire McLeod, Elementary Principal, has been working with all our students, from Early Years to Grade 5, to help them to understand more about how our library is organised and how they can find books to meet their needs; books for fun, books for research, books to help answer their own interest-based reading needs. Mrs. McLeod has very much enjoyed this time to get to know and work with all the students in the Elementary school.

Mrs. Amanda Clark, Teacher Librarian

Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

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News from Secondary School Mr. Lennox Meldrum Secondary School Principal Our first 9 weeks/42 days of school has been completed, and I think you would have to search very hard to find a happier Secondary School Principal than myself. Some of you took a chance with us over 12 months ago, signing up to join a school based on the vision we were promoting. Amazing teachers, world-class sporting facilities, a rigorous and inclusive academic programme, an expansive arts department with an instrumental music academy, a positive and supportive school community, a wide variety of activities and clubs, a safe and exciting learning environment, and technology that allows for 21st century teaching and learning. I believe we have provided all of this and more.

Seeing how happy and engaged our students and teachers are in their classes is a wonderful feeling and I look forward to more fantastic teaching and learning throughout the rest of the year.

All of this success does not come without a price, though, and I am sure that you have noticed that your child is reaching a point where they really need this upcoming break. In a regular school, the first half-semester is already exhausting enough with new teachers, new academic expectations, and getting back into the pace of school life following a long summer break. At IGBIS we have had the additional pressures of a completely new school environment for everyone, both teachers and students. I am proud that all members of our community have demonstrated an amazing ability to adapt to the changes and have helped grow such a positive school spirit. It has been an emotionally and socially demanding couple of months so please enjoy the break and recharge your batteries.

from dengue fever is an everyday battle in Malaysia, and early detection of an infection provides the best treatment options. If your child has possible symptoms it is best to seek medical attention as soon as possible. As with any short-term medical condition, please don’t send your child to school if you suspect they may be ill.

Progress Reports Today students will receive their Mid Semester One Progress Report online through ManageBac. For Diploma Programme students, a comment and a progress grade are given for each subject. These grades are progress grades that reflect the level to which the student has settled into the course with the first few assessment pieces. These grades will not be recorded on our official transcripts. For our Middle Years students, a comment and a measurement of their Approaches to Learning skills is provided for each subject. Most subjects in Middle Years would not yet have conducted assessment in all four criteria so a progress grade would not be fully reflective of a student’s holistic abilities. Parents can always check on the progress in each criterion within ManageBac at any time.

Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences Parents are reminded that our Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, October 29 from 2.00pm to 7.00pm. Students will have lunch and then be dismissed at 1.00pm with buses departing at 1.15pm. All students are expected to leave campus as there will be no supervision available, however some exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis if parents have an early appointment and the time travelling to/from school would impact the appointment.

You should have received an email this week with details on how to book appointments with our teachers. The booking sheet can been accessed at: http://goo.gl/at3geY.

Health Update An update on the health of one of our Secondary School teachers, who had a suspected case of shingles following the recent camps.

Doctors have reassessed his condition and found that it is not shingles but is an unrelated and non-contagious condition. This is good news for him and his family, and for students who were on the camp. On another health matter, we have recently had a Have a wonderful break and I look forward to seeing everyone staff member and a student from Secondary School diagnosed back ready for the remainder of the semester on Monday, with dengue fever (separate incidents). Protecting ourselves October 27.

Grade 11 Mid-Semester One Progress Reports The Grade 11 Mid-Semester One Progress Reports will be released on ManageBac on Friday, October 17th. Instructions on how to view the reports will be sent to parents by email. The MidSemester Reports are progress reports, and are an indication of how students have done, in accordance with the assignment assessment criteria, on assignments completed in the first half of Semester One. The Mid-Semester Progress Reports will not be included in any official transcripts from IGBIS, and are only an indication of progress up to this point.

The extended essay (EE) is an student directed research essay, culminating in a 4,000 word paper. The EE is part of the IBDP Core, along with CAS (Creativity - Action - Service) and TOK (Theory of Knowledge). The EE is a demanding assignment and a great way for students to complete a university style research essay: According to the IB, the EE is an integral part of the IB Core because it provides students a practical preparation for the kinds of undergraduate research required at tertiary level

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and is an opportunity for students to engage in an in-depth study of a topic of interest within a chosen subject.

Students are supported throughout the process with advice and guidance from a supervisor (a teacher at the school). The Grade 11 students take part in an EE class that is used to monintor their progress, helps them with essay formatting and gives them a structured environment to work on their EE. The students will need to meet EE deadlines and have approximately one year to complete the assignment. The first student – EE Supervisor meeting will take place on November 19th. There is an EE page on ManageBac that has the EE deadlines and other support materials.

If there are any questions regarding the IBDP at IGBIS please contact me at matthewmarshall@igbis.edu.my.

Matthew Marshall, DIploma Programme Coordinator

Impacting Lives

Who wins the game?

Students used their analytical and strategical skills to play a game that focuses on economic rules. Factors of production, demand and supply, trading…all in one game. They enjoyed applying their knowledge and where very passioned about earning their victory points.

Thanks to Mr Thompson for supplying this amazing game.

Ms Stephanie Seehaus, Economics Teacher

Updates from Student Services Mr. Peter Fowles Head of Student Services Dear School community, Secondary camps were a tremendous success due to the hard work of academic and support staff. Many thanks to Scott Cameron for leading the Grade 6 - 8 camp and all staff for their time and dedication in supervising student welfare and in running the programs. Congratulations to Grades 9 -11 for interacting with students from the school who are dedicated to careing for the intellectually impaired and socially disadvantaged. Our students displayed to a high degree of excellence in the traits of the IB learner profile in all the activities, but special commendation goes to their care and intention of those less fortunate than themselves.

Activities at IGBIS Elementary after school activities continue after the October break, letters reminding parents of their childrens chosen activity and vacancies in activites will be sent out once school resumes.

IGBIS Instrumental Music Academy The registrations for the Music Academy for Semester 1 closed this afternoon. Parents should have received their invoice/s and the schedules will be sent by the close of business on Monday. The lessons commence on Monday 27th October. Students who are hiring instruments will be able to pick up the instruments on Monday 27th October. It is very exciting that so many students have taken up this opportunity. Registrations for Semester 2 will open on 5th January 2015.

Energy Rising Classes with Lara Energy Rising workshops with Lara - connects mind and body through expressive movement and other forms of art and energy work. Lara is a Reiki Master, Yoga instructor, Art teacher and Journey Dance Practitioner. All of the above are encompassed into these wonderful classes that she calls “Energy Rising”.

Join Lara after the October holiday on Tuesday, 28th and Thursday, 30th October. The first two classes will be free! Come see what it’s all about, you won’t regret it.

The Dance Studio door will be open at 7:30 am. Drop off the kids and get there as soon as you can. The Energy will really begin to start rising at 8.00am. So you must be there for that!You will need to sign in as a visitor at the turnstiles in the car park entrance.

Feel the stress and negativity melt away, become re-energized and start manifesting all that you desire! You’ll walk out of class (at 9:30ish) glowing, glistening, at home in your own skin. Come home to your body, to your senses inhabiting every inch of your life!

For more information: Email: EnergyRisingwithLara@gmail.com Website: http://EnergyRising.zohosites.com Phone: 012-970-8664

Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives

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Updates from Academic and Support Services Mr. Peter Syme Director of Academic and Support Services Bus Safety All students who travel on the school buses are reminded that seatbelts must be worn at all times. I encourage all parents to discuss the safety aspects of wearing seatbelts with their own children, this will be supported by the teaching staff at school. Too often we have witnessed children in vehicles not wearing their seatbelts, infants being carried and nursed in the front seats of cars, and toddlers even moving around the car from front to back whilst the car is moving. This is against the law and endangers children. Please assist us in educating your children on the many aspects of road safety and being responsible passengers. Insist that they wear their seat belts in whatever vehicle they travel in at all the times.

Access & ID Cards Your access and ID card is available from the front reception counter any time you are in the school. There are several cards that have still not been collected. When the front security gate is activated and the boom gate in operation, you will have to sign in manually if you do not have your card. Primary caregivers, such as a grandparent,will also be considered for the issuance of an access card. Written application for cards must be made to the school with an explanation of their caregivers explanation to you.

School Lunches There are some difficulties with the lunch orders. This is often due to payment being made late. Please ensure that the lunch payment is made in advance so that students do not face delays in getting their lunch. We would like students to bring an envelope to the payment counter. Written on the envelope should be the student name, grade and the amount of money enclosed. Students will then be issued with a receipt for the payment.

Thank you again for your support and understanding on this matter.

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Igniting Minds

Impacting Lives